Addressing speculation on forensic technician who dropped dead
World Net Daily
May 9, 2012
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| Andrew Breitbart |
Law-enforcement officials in California are now speaking out on the mysterious death of one of their own forensic technicians who died the day autopsy results were released for conservative powerhouse Andrew Breitbart.
Michael Cormier, a respected forensic attendant for the Los Angeles County Coroner, died under suspicious circumstances at his North Hollywood home April 20, the same day Breitbart’s cause of death was finally made public.
It’s been reported arsenic poisoning is being investigated as a possibility, but toxicology results are still three to four weeks away.
Today, Det. Rich Wheeler, a homicide supervisor with the Los Angeles Police Department, told WND that Cormier had no connection whatsoever to the investigation into Breitbart’s death.
“No. As far as I know, none,” Wheeler said.
His comment is confirmed by Ed Winter, assistant chief of operations and Cormier’s colleague at the coroner’s office.
“Mr. Cormier was not the attendant on Mr. Breitbart’s case, nor did he do any of the handling nor any of the investigation,” Winter told WND.
Winter says the chief medical examiner at the coroner’s office has put a security hold on the Cormier case, so he’s not at liberty to discuss specifics.
“It allows for law enforcement to complete our investigation, and so that nothing gets out until we make our determination,” he explained, noting holds are often used in officer-involved shootings, an in-custody death and high-profile cases.
“There’s been a lot of speculation in connection with the Breitbart case,” he admitted.
Winter says after he directly told one news agency – which he refused to name – that Cormier was “absolutely” not connected to the Breitbart case, that news agency actually reported the opposite, that he was involved.
“As soon as they did that, I had like 20 different agencies call up [to confirm that],” Winter said. “I spent half the day doing disclaimers [to stress], ‘No, I didn’t say that!’ Sometimes [the media] need to make a big sensational issue.”
Michael Cormier
Winter described Cormier, 61, as “a good guy,” who was one of 17 forensic techs employed by the office.
“He was a forensic attendant, he would assist the doctors in autopsies,” he explained.
Winter says the coroner’s office has 25 full-time pathologists and 37 consultant doctors.
“If we have to bring in a specialist, such as an anesthesiologist or cardiologist, we’d maybe bring in a consultant to validate what our findings are,” he said.
On April 20, the same day Cormier died, the coroner’s office released its findings into the death of Breitbart, stating the 43-year-old conservative media giant died of natural causes, listing cause of death as heart failure.
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